the cleary family

Cornelius Cleary and his wife Honorah were natives of (Clondagal)
Co. Clare Ireland. Nothing
is known about their births or the date of their marriage and all their known
children appear to have been born in Ireland. In any case there is no information
on this family prior to their settlement in the Credit River area of Scott
Co. MN. Nora Cleary may have been related to the Egans
who settled in the same area but there is no evidence to this effect.
Cornelius settled on a farm on the shore of Cleary lake in 1854 and is said
to have been the first settler in what at that time was called New Dublin
but was to become Credit River Twp.

Most of the children listed settled in the area with their parents. Nora
Flemming is assumed to be a daughter and was married to another early settler
o the area. James may not have been related to this family. The only evidence
to support a relationship is derived from census records which show a Thomas
Foly staying with his family in St. Paul. This may have been the a nephew
but this is not known for certain. Conn and Nora both died at home on the
original farm and are buried at St.Peter Cemetary.

One additional dilema is noted with regard to this family. Credit River records
list Ann as married to Peter Corrigan in 1864. However, St. Paul Cathedral
records a marriage of an Ann Cleary to a John Gorgan (Corrigan ?). This record
lists Ann's place of birth as Clondagal Ireland and John's place of birth
as Kells Ireland. Is this the same Ann ??

Patrick is thought to have been born in
County Clare Ireland and apparently
emigrated to the United States with his parents. He lived for a time on the
family farm in Credit River until his marriage at which time he appears to
have been given a part of his father's farm for home.
Bridget and Patrick may have been married shortly before 1865 which
is the date of their first known child's birth.

Little information is available regarding John & Nora. John was born
somewhere in Clare Co. Ireland and came to Credit River with his parents.
Nora was born in County Limerick Ireland Jan. 18, 1839 and came to the U.S
with her parents in 1849 and by 1854 was living in Eagan MN. They were married
in the fall of 1861 and moved to Credit River.

Census records for 1900 list only five children still alive indicating that
the other children may have died in childhood. The date of John's death is
not certain and the death of Nora is unknown. Nora may have moved into
St. Paul. In any case John appears to have been buried in Credit River in
the family plot. Nora continued to reside on the family farm until 1918 when
she moved to St. Paul to keep house for her son George. She was residing
at 181 Como Ave when she died June 10, 1931. She was also buried at Credit
River.

Thomas appears to have been born in Co Clare Ireland and came to this country
with his parents. He settled in Credit River MN and remained with his parents
until his marriage in 1865. Margaret appears to have been born in New York
and settled in Burnsville MN area. Little is known about them after their
marriage.

There may have been more children from this marriage. It is not yet known
where Thomas & Maggy were living at the time of their deaths. Their son
Michael was apparently living at 683 St. Peter Street in St. Paul when he
died.

Peter was born in Ireland and moved to Credit River with his father and mother
about 1854. He was married in St. Paul sometime in the early 1860s. Little
is known about Hannah except she appears to be related to the Queally family
from Mendota. More information is known about Peter than is known about his
brothers, but the information remains sketchy. Peter appears to have run
the family farm after his fathers death.

About 1910 John and his wife moved to Seatle Washington. John died soon after
but Elizabeth continued to reside their until 1940 when she went to live
with her daughter in Chicago Ill. She died there three years later.

This family file contains the research notes of Mr. Kevin Geraghty
with contributions and corrections from Tara
Faricy. Mr. Geraghty is researching the families and descendants of those
buried at the Highland Cemetery. For more information or to contribute to
Mr. Geraghty's research, please send him e-mail at
kgerag@aol.com.